Wednesday, 26 February 2014

The first meeting of the Vancouver Island Soccer Academy on Feb. 16
was well-attended by lots of familiar faces and a few new faces. The registration process has been initiated online and will continue
in the week ahead. Importantly, there will be a second meeting on
Friday, Feb. 28 from 6-8 p.m. at the Old House Village and Spa in the
meeting room to finalize the registration process and size the players
for clothing. All parents and players must be present at this meeting to
discuss the training times and days one last time before we set the
wheels in motion. Importantly, there will be several additions to the
coaching staff for 2014 as we build towards a more professional
development model:

• Shel Brodsgaard is the founder of the Vancouver Island Soccer
Academy (est. 2013). Shel is a National B License Certified Coach.
Currently, Shel is the VIPL Riptides Soccer Development Coordinator,
Kwalikum Secondary School Soccer Center for Excellence Director,
Oceanside Youth Soccer Society Technical Director and founder of Denman
Island Residential Summer Soccer Camps (est. 2000). He is also the former Canadian Soccer Association National Teams
Goalkeeper Coach (2000-2006) and recently spent a season with Toronto FC
in the MLS as the Sports Performance Analyst (2012). Shel has been
involved with the game at all levels and thoroughly enjoys being
involved with the players, parents and coaches in the North Island.

• Ken Garraway is a National B License Certified Coach, BCSA Course
Conductor and former BCSA Provincial Team Coach. Ken also played for the
Canadian Men's World Cup Team in 1986.
Ken is a fantastic coach with a wonderful sense of humor. His
sessions are lively, intense, demanding and educational. Ken's
involvement with any youth soccer organization brings forward the level
of professionalism both on and off the field.

• Jamie Fales is a National B License Certified Coach and NCCP Level
Four Theory Certified. Jamie is a graduate of the National Coaching
Institute in Victoria and was a member of the Canadian Women's National
Team Support Staff from 2003-2007. Jamie has extensive coaching
experience and was a captain for the Canadian National Team in his
youth. Jamie exudes passion for the game and is a tremendous motivator
for youth. His sessions are full of life and love for the game- there
are few who can match the energy Jamie puts out when working with kids.

• Bruno CH Munger will be running the Keeners Program for the
2003-2004-2005 players. Bruno is a former national team handball player
and soccer enthusiast. He created a successful campaign for the Keeners
through the CVUSC and will continue to do so under the VISA banner. His
first project will be to return to Vancouver in early April to compete
with both the Keeners and Keeners-Lite in a tournament.

• Marc St. Jules is the owner/operator of "The Cave." Marc is a
highly successful and effective personal trainer. He will bring a level
of professionalism to the training and development of our academy
athletes with his "cleats" program. Marc spent the winter working with
several of the VIPL age groups and recently ran a very successful
campaign with a select groups of 2002 born players from the academy. The
players will benefit tremendously from these workouts which will be
included in the training times.
"We look forward to another exciting spring!" Brodsgaard said.

Blog Archive

About Me

Shel Brodsgaard grew up playing soccer in Victoria, BC. His earliest memories are playing in goal for the Lansdowne Evening Optimists in his youth, where he started playing organized soccer at the age of 6. Shel’s father Kjeld, was also a locally renowned goalkeeper, playing for the 1974 Canadian National Amateur Champions the London Boxing Club, also based out of Victoria, BC. The combination of watching his father play combined with his passion for guarding the goal provided Shel with a lifelong desire and commitment to the game of soccer. From these early years with the boys in blue and gold, Shel was able to develop and maintain lifelong friendships with the people that he has played with and coached with. Following his earliest days playing in goal for Lansdowne, he switched back to play in his own age group at the age of twelve years and began playing for the Gorge Magpies as a striker! The experience playing out of goal was brief, as after the first and only season playing as a striker he was more determined than ever to get back in goal. The Gorge Magpies had a successful youth soccer campaign, qualifying for the provincial championships on more than one occassion, a rare experience for teams from Vancouver Island. It was from these experiences with the Gorge Magpies that he was exposed to the Provincial All-Star Program and eventually the Youth National Team Program. Some of his earliest accomplishment include:

- attending the U16 Canadian National Youth Team Training Camp at the age of 14- being selected to the BCSA Provincial U16 All-Star Team and winning the Gold Medal at the National Championshipsin Winnipeg (1986)- being selected to the BCSA Provincial U18 All-Star team

During his experience and training with the BCSA Provincial U18 All-Star team Shel was contacted by Edmonton Brickmen of the now defunct Canadian Soccer League. This would be the beginning of a long journey for Shel as he now pursued the dream of becoming a professional soccer player. Following his first season in na professional environmentShel returned to Grade 10 at Shoreline Middle School in Victoria, BC. Where he was able to enjoy playing school soccer with his childhood friends from the Gorge Magpies and also began to play Men's Soccer in the VISL for the Gorge Molson's. Under the continued guidance of his father, with specialized goalkeeper training programs provided by himand his goalkeeping friends, Shel as able to acquire several role models at a critical age that taught him a large amount about the game, life and of course goalkeeping through their common interest in goalkeeping. This list of people would include the likes of Grant Darley and Gord Reading. It became apparent very early to Shel at the value of havingrole models who share a similar passion in life, hence his commitment to continue to present positive role models to youth through his soccer programs to date. Some of his finest memories in the high school years were playing for Spectrum Community School in the Colonist Cup. Once losing to Oak Bay High School, and once winning by defeating Mt.Doug High School. The most remarkable part of the celebration was knowing that his father had also played in and won a Colonist Cup in his youth.

The game has been very rewarding in many ways to Shel Brodsgaard. From these experiences he has made it his passion to share and show the future generations of youth soccer players and community level coaches what he has learned from the game. It is with great pleasure the he promotes learning in a fun, demanding and rewarding training andplaying environment. Following and extensive playing career in which he played for professional teams in North America and Europe, Shel was also asked to represent Canada at several stages of his career both as a player and a coach. Some of his career highlights are listed below:

Two of Shel’s most recent successes would be inductions into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame as a member of the Gold Medal Team from the 1989 Francophone Games as well as his recent stint with Toronto FC in the MLS as the Sports Performance Analyst.